A few of my favourite things

It was a funny week last week. It was very cold on Monday and rained on Tuesday so we couldn’t go out on the grass. Then Wednesday and Thursday were lovely, but Mummy was out all day – and all night, so we starved on Thursday. Well, no, that’s not true. If we’d left any of the extra food she left us on Wednesday we were fine. By the time she got back on Thursday night nearly everything in my cage had been eaten, apart from the hay in the hay-rack. Dougall and I save that for emergencies. There were a few pellets in our bowls, too. Friday was sort of cloudy and damp, but Mummy made us very wet by giving us a bath and a cuddle after, and that was lovely. The haircut wasn’t. But at least Dougall doesn’t get a dirty bottom now. Hector had a bath too.

The good thing, though, was apart from carrots and celery (and a red pepper on Friday) all of the fresh food we had was from the garden. We had

big stalks of salsify with yellow flowers on; Mummy grows this for the roots for herself in the winter, but we adore the nice leaves on it, and now it grows huge flower spikes and she thins them out by sharing a stalk between three cages.

one celery plant from the garden. It was ok, but the shop bought has bigger stalks.

some baby broccoli plants, Mummy called them seedlings, they had grown from seeds she’d planted but she’d got enough to make big plants so we had the rest. Very tasty.

some small kale plants, with nice leaves on them, which Mummy said she didn’t need as the plants she’d left would need more room to grow.

some baby beetroot leaves which are yummy. We aren’t suppose to have them when they’re older because they are bad for us.

yet more red frilly lettuce. I wish Mummy wouldn’t grow that but she says she’s got a packet of other lettuce seeds now, so it’s only a matter of time.

pak choi, which is very boring, but Mummy says its about the only thing that’s ready early in spring, so now it’s summer she’ll pull the rest out to make way for something nicer. Goodie!

raspberry leaves – these are yummy and mummy says we’ve got so many raspberry plants they can spare a few most days

strawberry leaves. This year they are smaller and pointier – Mummy says she didn’t look after her strawberries last year and we’ve got mainly wild strawberries, which aren’t as big. They still taste okay to me.

a few tiny carrots – these were ‘thinnings’ too. They aren’t as big as the carrot tops Uncle Michael brings us, but they are very nice.

herb leaves – there are some mint plants we like, and some we don’t like. I think Mummy is starting to work that out as she hasn’t given us the one we don’t like since Monday. She’s also given us one or two sage leaves and some oregano, which is very nice. We’re not keen on the big herb fennel leaves, the other fennel is much nicer but Mummy says she hasn’t sown it yet. Maybe this weekend.

some other leaves, like rudbeckia and apple and bean leaves (very yummy).

I’m sure I’ve missed something out.

oh. GRASS!!!! The best thing ever. She brings us in a great pile each int he afternoon if we don’t go outside. Sometimes it’s quite wet. That’s when it’s been raining. She’s right, I wouldn’t want to be out in the garden then.